Rear light

The Blackburn Super Flea rear flasher stretches a good design to its true potential with excellent optics, weathertight casings and decent mounting hardware whether affixed to seatposts, clothing or accessories.

Measuring 33x23x46cm it's about as genuinely bijoux as you get while still doing the job on dark nights. Blackburn doesn't quote figures but it seems broadly in thirty-odd lumen territory. Run times are quoted as fifteen hours steady, twenty-eight in flash/strobing.

The Portland Design Works (PDW) Radbot 1000 is a powerful rear LED with some eye catching flash options.

This light has been popular in the US for a while now, so it seemed like a good idea to try one out. Out of the box it's a neat design, good-looking and compact. It proved simple to fit and was easy to unclip from its mount to swap between bikes. It also fitted nicely on to the webbing loop of a Carradice saddlebag without moving around too much, helped by a nice tight clip with a security step.

The Flash rear LED from Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative's Revolution range is a pretty good option and a bargain at under a tenner. It's integral mounting system means it's very quick and easy to put on or take off your seatpost. It charges via a USB cable and, as long as you remember to charge it, battery life won't be a problem.

Waiter, waiter, there's an RSP micro flex light rear in my soup...Keep you voice down sir; they'll all want one. Superb weather seals, shapely, tactile design and impressive power to size ratio, the flex light ranks high in my back up lighting hall of fame and should be of particular interest to winter time trialists or road racers who don't want to find themselves cheated by the sudden onset of darkness.